Thought it often ventures into other areas with highly entertaining results, Bakuman always returns to what it truly is – an extended love letter to manga. One thing that Bakuman gets just right is hard to truly understand until you’ve been to Japan, and that’s the degree to which manga is a […] Read more
Episode 5 – shameless, but effective. I liked this episode of Sukitte just as much as the first four, though it felt quite different to me. Those four eps were appealingly realistic and just a bit raw – not especially polished in terms of presentation but emotionally honest and free […] Read more
Well, whaddaya know – Little Busters is a Key adaptation after all. While the events in this episode were certainly foreshadowed last week, the change in tone was still pretty stark – especially in the second half of the episode. This was really the first time that the Key/Maeda Jun […] Read more
As many epic fights as this series has shown us so far, I get the sense that the big dogs haven’t even started to hunt yet. This episode was certainly a bit of an emotional roller-coaster, though that was to be expected under the circumstances. It started out feeling like […] Read more
There are a couple of currently airing series where the gap between how brilliant they are and how much discussion they get is particularly large, and Space Brothers is definitely one of them. And I confess, I’m guilty myself. An interesting bit of trivia about this week’s episode: astronaut Hoshide […] Read more
When it comes to these two shows it’s, Yin, meet Yang. Btooom! – 05 I’m right on the edge with Btooom at the moment. I get that the whole piece is something of an unqualified condemnation of human nature, and the broader feeling in watching is still that it’s compelling […] Read more
“Love Me Gently” If Shin Sekai Yori is the anime that always seems to end after five minutes, Hourou Musuko is the manga that always seems to end after a few panels. How I wish this was a weekly – 20 pages after waiting a month just doesn’t cut it. […] Read more
Two very good episodes in what’s shaping up to be a very deep season, even if it isn’t a great one. Kamisama Hajimemashite – 05 Kamisama Kiss has a very important quality that doesn’t get talked about much: as simple as it sounds, it makes me happy. It’s just a […] Read more
The last two episodes of Shin Sekai Yori have had a “which one isn’t like all the rest?” feel to them. Someone (forgive me, I can’t recall who) suggested that the change in art style courtesy of the idiosyncratic Yamauchi Shigeasu last week was intentional, to make the near-sex scene […] Read more
I’m still trying to figure out just what kind of series Psycho-Pass wants to be, but whatever that is it’s undeniably interesting. I see two basic questions at the heart of the matter in discerning what we have with this series. Is it something deep and profound and full of […] Read more